SOLANA BEACH – Standing behind the cash register in her Eden Gardens consignment shop, Joan Bormann talked excitedly about a city proposal to redevelop the sleepy neighborhood where she's owned a business for 14 years.

"I wish the city would give us as much money as they put into the South Cedros area," said Bormann, co-owner of Two Sisters Consignment home furnishings on Stevens Avenue. "They put money into advertising over there and a new sign proclaiming that it's the Cedros business district. It would be nice to have some money floating around this area, too."

But Catalina Salgado, a second-generation Eden Gardens resident, thinks her neighborhood is just fine and wonders why the city is again proposing redevelopment in the area.

"It's like a little hometown here. It's not like a city or anything," Salgado said. "The rest of Solana Beach and Del Mar have shopping centers at every turn. We don't want that."

A redevelopment agency re-created by the City Council in December is preparing to embark on two public works projects – one in Eden Gardens, which was settled by Hispanic families in the early 1900s, and the other along Highway 101 and North Cedros Avenue.

Public meetings will be held tomorrow and Wednesday nights so residents and business owners can learn more about the plans and make suggestions.

City Manager Barry Johnson, the redevelopment agency's executive director, said the work in Eden Gardens, which is primarily residential with a handful of businesses, would focus on improving infrastructure such as curbs, storm drains, street lights and sidewalks.

Along Highway 101, a predominantly commercial area that includes hotels, stores, restaurants and City Hall, the work would include traffic-slowing measures and streetscape improvements.

Deteriorating buildings in the two project areas may also be targeted for redevelopment, and vacant lots may be cleaned.

"The two areas in the city that we're proposing (for redevelopment) are the ones we feel could benefit the most," Johnson said.

In Eden Gardens, improvements will focus on a handful of streets, including Stevens Avenue, Genevieve Street, Valley Avenue and others.

The Highway 101 work will stretch from Dahlia Drive north past Solana Vista Drive and Ocean Street and include portions of North Cedros by the train station.

This will be the city's second attempt at redevelopment. Its previous agency was eliminated in December 1999 because it was losing the city money and not completing any projects.

Redevelopment agencies are funded by property taxes, and the original agency, created in 1989, was obligated to give 60 percent of that income to the county and local school districts.

Property values were expected to increase about 8 percent a year, but they fell in the mid-1990s. The redevelopment agency did not make the money it expected, yet it was required to pay the county and local schools.

By the end of the 1998-99 fiscal year, the agency owed the city $870,354, according to city records.

In 1993, the Legislature approved changes relating to redevelopment agencies, which city leaders say will help the agency succeed financially.

Under state law, redevelopment agency money must be spent on infrastructure improvements in its district – streets, sewers, lighting and the like – and on fixing up businesses and residences.

A city newsletter about the redevelopment district says there are no plans to turn residential areas into commercial areas, the district is not allowed to take anyone's property by eminent domain and taxes will not be increased to fund projects.

A final decision on what work will be done in each area isn't expected until June.

The first public meeting on the redevelopment efforts will be held at 7 tomorrow night at the La Colonia Park Community Center, 712 Stevens Ave. The second, also at 7 p.m., will be Wednesday at City Hall, 635 S. Highway 101.